Discover why this Italian city became famous and why it’s still famous today.
Pompeii is a famous Italian city due to the volcanic eruption in 79 AD destroying the city. The city was completely covered in six metres of ash and rocks. Pompeii was long forgotten about until the late 16th century when it got rediscovered.
What was Pompeii like before the volcanic eruption?
Pompeii is suspected to have once been a thriving and wealthy Roman city. We know this because there were huge private houses and many public buildings like the Forum where they held most public events. The city had about 12000 residents who used the 100 different streets and used the complex water system.
What is the history of the volcano that destroyed Pompeii?
Mount Vesuvius has been around for thousands of years and is expected to be over 300,000 years old. The volcano has erupted over 50 times and it is still currently an active volcano and will erupt again. The last time Mount Vesuvius erupted was in 1944 but the last major eruption was in 1631!
If you want, you can visit and climb Mount Vesuvius! You can book a tour or buy tickets online and walk up to the very top. The walk takes about one to two hours to walk to the top and back down. Along the way make sure you take photos of the amazing views of the Gulf of Naples.
You can take a visit and walk through Pompeii yourself!
Pompeii is now one of the largest archaeological sites and even today archaeologists are still digging up the city for any new findings. We’re lucky we can walk through the city and see for ourselves the preserved buildings and any human and animal remains or plaster casts.
You can spend days to see all of Pompeii and walk the streets, or you can spend as little as two hours in Pompeii and see the main highlights. As there is limited signage in Pompeii, we recommend booking a guided tour so you can learn more about the buildings and history.
You can explore the city frozen in time and Mount Vesuvius on a guided tour! The tours leave from Sorrento or Naples, and you’ll have a tour guide telling you the history of Pompeii. You will get a glimpse of how the Romans lived in Pompeii on this tour.